Display carton



July 8, 1952 OTTEN 2,602,541

I i INVENTOR.

i 4/ 1 By (@M flaw.

Patented July 8, 1952 DISPLAY CARTON Eri Q t icag Il Application No ena;5, 1949-, Serial No. 125,818

H; r .This invention relates to improved display and shipping containersfor merchandising cards, that is, cards on which articles of merchandiseare carried and displayed for sale.

. In general, such cards are packed and shipped in large containerswhich are opened and discarded at the destination, and the cards,loosely or in trays, are displayed for sale. I r

. The cards may thus be individually handled several times before theirultimate display and many times thereafter, so that the cards andarticles are liable to become dirty, tarnished and scratched, thearticles perhaps loosened from the cards and lost, with the result thatthe cards and articles are. not attractively displayed for finalmerchandising. v I Itis an object of the. present invention to providean effective display container for the cards and one which also may befilled by the manu- 'facturer, or at the source, and shipped to thestore or destination and'there be placed on the counter or elsewhere forthe display and mer chandising of the cards. A minimum of hanoiling, ofthe cards. individually or anumberin loose condition, tending to defacethe same, thus results. Once placed in the containers at the source, thecards need not be touched through all the handling of packing andshipping the con-' tainers, their receipt, unpacking, distribution andplacing on display for sale, and not then until final. disposal exceptas some customer may desire individual inspection, when the cardmay bereadily liftedout, and if not sold, as readily replaced, The cards thus:arrive in prime condition and are maintained in that condition duringtheir display andmerchandising. v

Accordingly, the invention comprlsese-a-nd that isglanjobjectriealightweight display container having :arwholly transparent vertical bodyof thin; tmnsparent, plastic sheet material; pref-- erably a cellulosevester or ether, such as cellu-i loseacetatc, cellulosenitrate, butyrate,etc., or ethyl cellulosegorthelike. Transparent plastics such asrelatively rigid polyvinyl 1 polymers, stycal corners, andis of: a sizeto accommodate therein a plurality oi merchandising'cardsstand-,

3; Claims. (01. zoo-44.11)

ing 'on endandplai-nl-yandwholly visiblethrough the transparent sidesoi'the container. ;-A strong,

stiffi; fiat base; preferably of pasteboa'rd-Qand shaped like an}inverted "cover having upstandingperipheral side or edge strips ornangesor substantial width, is provided for the transparent body, the lowerend of which telescopically fits into said flanges of the base and issuitably secured thereto, preferably by some form or glue or cementbetween the respective body sides and said flanges.

There is thus provideda merchandising card display container affordingiull visibility of the cards inside through the entire sides of thebody, even to and through the corners, the view not being hampered orlessened by supportingframework, corner posts, window frames, tops,orthe like. The transparent material is light in weight and notheavylike glass orbreakable and thus dangerous from splinters or thelike, and is not as expensive as a molded product. The material of whichthe transparent-body is formed is thin and flexible, but the fourvertical'corners, which are preferably formed by sharply bending thesheet material, together with the two sides ex-' tending in planes atright angles therefrom, and all four sides being secured at theirlower-edges to the bottom base, produce corner post stiffening effectsin the body and impart thereto a rigidity sufficient for the purposeofdisplayand for the handling the container maybe subjected to duringitsfuse While a most efiicient display container'is'thusproducedjitis'desirable to fill thesame with" cards at the source, toavoid the necessity of handling thesa-mefor shipment or the like.But'the cards with their merchandise may be relatively heavy and] the'wa'llsof the container are thin. It has been found, however, that bysupplying the container withe cover which is relatively stiff andstrong, nonwarpable and 'nondef'ormable, practicallya counterpart of'the base member but reversed; with its-edge flanges overlap'pingandcloselyfitting down over the top of the body, a

rugged filled container is produced which is well able to withstand thetorsional and other. stresses and strains-caused by shipment,jhandlingandthe like. Moreover, the -pa'ra1lel' top and bottom side flanges of:the cover and bottom members enable.- the containers to be closelypackedin largershipping cases, without: causing undue strain on the sidewallsof the containers,

from the detailed description and claims to follow, in connection withthe accompanying drawing, which shows an embodiment of the invention, byway of exemplification but not of limitation, and in which Fig. 1 is aperspective view of a completed and filled container ready for shipment;

Fig. 2 is a similar View of the container with the temporary top removedas usedfor a display container; z 1 V Fig. 3 isa top view" of a shippingcase in which some 16 of the containers of the present inven- With thebox 13 properly proportioned. the contion are closely packed relative toeach other with 5 the edges of their tops and bottoms in protectiveengagement;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a cardsuitable of h m for display in thecontainers vention; and

Fig. 5 is a vertical section through an empty" container. H

The side walls 6 of the container consist of thin, flexible butself-sustaining sheets of a suitable transparent plastic material, thefour walls all being made from a single sheet of such material, bent at90 angles to produce a rectangular structure. Where the four sides meet,one side is slightly larger, and lapped over the adjacent-side .asindicated at 6*, and secured thereto, for example, by a suitable cement.If the material of which the sides are made is soluble in a suitablesolvent, such as acetone or ethyl acetate, and the like, the adherencemay be secured by merely moistening the overlapping parts with sucha-solvent and then-pressing the parts together; However, a suitabletransparent cement may -be used; the mainobject being to retain-fulltransparencm soas not to hide any of 'the contents of the container.While any suitable-sufliciently stiff plastic transparent material willdo, it is. preferred, both from a cost standpoint as well as foritsphysical properties, to employ so-called cellulose acetate sheet stock.This may vary in thickness but generally, for the present purposes,about 0.04" stock is sufiicient. This will produce. a rectangular tubeofself-supporting characteristics,

The bottom of the container 1 is made from some stiff and, more or lessrigid materialysuch as heavy cardboard; shaped into the form of atrayjust large enough so that the rectangular v transparent plastic tubemay be telescopically fitted thereinto, and secured on all four sides tothe upstanding flanges 8 ofthebcttom. .This mayv be. done by cement,stitching, or stapling. This renders the structure substantiallyincollapsible and imparts enough strength to enable the container tomaintain itself when on display.

Housed within the container are-aplurality of cards 9 to'which theparticular merchandise in is attached. In the 'illustrations,.-sets ofbob pins are shown merely for purposes of exempliflcation, itgbeingobvious that any sort of merchandisesuitable for such attachment tocards may be employed. .One of these cards is shown outside of thecontainer inZFigJ l, and usually bears attractive; ornamentation,picturesend legends on-its face indicative of. theyproduct i play drWhile the container isintended foruse in the form: shown in Eig. ;2,-qthat is with-its top removedyso asto afford access tothe cards,as by;the purchaser or sales person, it-sis shipped with-atop fitted-ithereon as, shown in 'Figs. 1, 3 and 5. This top is made of cardboard,and is ;quite similar-to ,the, bottom 1, ;but has detainers will fitsnugly and serve to support each other. As only the respective tops andbottoms are thus in contact, the transparent sides of the containerswill be spaced slightly apart, thus avoiding scratching and marring. Thearticles within' the containers also serve to prevent the collapse of"the containers by engaging the sides,

while any strain placed on the containers by violent movements of theshipping case will be primarily taken up. by the cardboard'tops. andbottoms. Thus thexcontainers and their contents are well protected;during shipping, and all that it is necessary for the merchandiser to'dois to remove the containers, take off their tops,

and place them on display.

temporarily to secure at least one ofthe cards to'the inside ofthefcontainer, so'that it will remain upright and fully visible fromthefront of the-container; This may bedone,v as indicated in Fig. 2, bysecuringa card 9.to the inside "of the front wall 6 of: thecontainer bya small piece of adhesive tape I4- The'rear card. likewise be secured bya faced outwardly may similar strip I5.

The containers are thus very useful, in that they serve. a multiplicityof-purposes, afiording both good protection to the merchandise during.shipping and alsoduring its display and ultimate sale; particularly asthe full transparency makes it possible at a glance to note the numberof'articles-remaining. on display;

Iv It will, of course, be .within the scope of the presentwinvention tomake the containers either square orrectang-ular, or polygonal, and evenround (i. :e. cylindrical), depending upon the nature of the contents tobe shipped and displayed therein.

Accordingly applicant claims: 3 l. A shipping. and display devicecomprising a container for merchandisecarried on' displaycards,comprising a transparent vertical body rectangular in 'cross'section andof a size to receiveiand hold therein a plurality of said cardsvertically and'juxtaposed flatwise and visible through the full: area ofthe wallsx of said body, said bodyV-beingJof thintrans'parentplasticsheet self sustaining. material bent/at the four vertical ccrnersthereof toform the sides and relatiyely rigid ,-c,orn'er s ithereof, -arectangular base forming thebottomof;saidbody, said base be-V' ingtofrelatively; strong and. stiff material corresponding in sizeto the crosssection of said bodyand-havinga peripheral upstanding edge flangetelescoping.-.over the lower end of said and form as said base and alsoof relatively strong and still material and having a depending ing themerchandise lying against the inside of said wall so as to be visibletherethrough, whereby as the cards are removed from the container thevisibility of the secured card will maintain the appearance of thedisplay so as to attract purchasers.

2. A display device'comprising a container for fiat objects capableofstanding on ends, con-' sisting of a flexible tube composed of atransparent self-sustaining plastic material, a bottom corresponding inshape to the cross section of said tube and provided with upstandingflanges overlying the outer surface of said tube and secured thereto,the said bottom imparting to the assembly sufiicient rigidity to preventits 001- lapse and to enable it to :be used as a display container, anda plurality of rectangular cards carrying the merchandise affixedthereto ver-' tically disposed in said body with at least one of thecards secured to a transparent wall of the container with the sidecarrying the merchandise lying against the inside of said'wall so as tobe visible therethrough, whereby as the cards are removed from thecontainer the visibility of the secured card will maintain theappearance of the display so as to attract purchasers.

3. A display device comprising a container for fiat objects capable ofstanding on ends, con- 6 sisting of'a flexible tube composed of atransparent self-sustaining plastic material, a bottom corresponding inshape to the cross section of said tube and provided with upstandingflanges overlying the outer surface of said tube and secured thereto,and a similar top having dependent flanges overlying the outer side ofsaid tube, the said bottom and top imparting to the assembly sufficientrigidity to prevent its 001- lapse and to enable it to be used both as ashipping as well as a display container, and a plurality of cardscarrying the merchandise affixed thereto being vertically disposed insaid body, with at least one of the cards secured to a transparent wallof the container with the side carrying the merchandise lying againstthe inside of said wall so as to be visible therethrough, whereby as thecards are'removed from the container Y the visibility of the securedcard will maintain the appearance of the display so as to attractpurchasers.

ERIC OT'I EN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

